Biography

Biographical films, or biopics, depict the lives (or segments thereof) of
past and present eminent, famous, and infamous people. The boundary
between the biopic and other genres is fluid, since biography can include
historical film, costume drama, musical, melodrama, western, crime film,
social problem film, documentary, and so on. The biopic distinguishes
itself by emphasizing the person rather than a history of an era, at least
in its title. The genre is not static, but rather sensitive to cultural
and social transformations involving nation and community, and its form
and discourse alters over time. Biopics can be allegories of power,
tributes to genius and talent, paradigms of economic success, or
celebrations of nation formation and patriotism, or they can capitalize on
transgressions of prescribed standards of social behavior (as in gangster
films, social problem films, and docudramas). Biopics present their
historical subjects by means of textual and intertextual strategies that
draw on the predilections of the producer, the technological and economic
resources of a studio, the likelihood of profitability, the style of a
director, and the personae of stars, as well as on existing versions of
social history, propaganda, or a particular ideology. The biopic bases its
claims to authenticity on research—written histories of a period,
biographies, diaries, journals, paintings, architecture,
fashion—often relying on and crediting the work of historical
advisers.

The classic form of the biopic is sensitive to direct and indirect forms
of censorship, and the elimination or reworking of pertinent and sensitive
data about the personal life of the biographical subject is a common
feature of the genre that elicits criticism about its historical
legitimacy. The biopic has been a catapult to stardom for some actors
because it creates the illusion of a fit between the physical appearances,
mannerisms, modes of speaking, and temperaments of the actor and the
famous subject. Yet the use of a star can create a tension between the
famous biographical subject and the fame of the star, contributing to the
complexity of the portrait or creating problems of credibility. The style
can follow the model of established generic formulas, veer in an
avant-garde experimental direction, or assume an investigative and
reflexive mode.